1. Field of the Invention
The invention lies in the field of grocery shelves, more particularly pull-out shelf supports for a shelf which pulls out and drops down to facilitate loading fresh products at the back of the shelf without unloading products already on the shelf.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Grocery shelves are erected along vertical walls which define the aisles of a store. The shelves are supported in a horizontal position perpendicular to the wall surface by brackets which are usually placed at each side edge of rectangular shelves. The brackets generally have a back end having hook formations and the wall generally has spaced apart upright standards having a series of vertically arranged slots which receive the hooked formations in any number of elevations depending upon which slots are chosen. The shelves are located at a plurality of elevations such that there is a vertical space between the shelf surfaces to provide the desired amount of vertical product space. The shelves are frequently wire mesh shelves with a turned-up outer front edge which helps keep product from sliding off.
A particular problem arises in the restocking of snack products, such as bags of potato chips, tortilla chips, popcorn, pretzels and the like. In order to prevent waste, it is incumbent upon the snack food supplier to make sure fresher product being stocked is placed at the rear of the shelf so that older, already-stocked snack product is sold first. Many of these products are dated and generally have a very short shelf life before staleness becomes apparent.
Prior art shelves are typically four feet wide and mounted adjacently at a selected elevation. They necessitate unloading the old product from the shelf, placing the fresh product in the back, and then replacing the previously stocked older product in the front of each shelf. Since the route man usually fills these shelves, he must visit many stores on his route in a limited amount of time, and there is a lot of wasted time in loading and unloading shelves to make sure the older product is sold first. There are prior art shelves which pull out, but they are not typically used in grocery stores, and even if they were, the snack products are typically sold in tall bags which fall over easily in any direction without support. The route man cannot control these bags with his arms and still reach the fresh product to restock. Apart from using two route men, one to pull the bags forward while the other restocks fresh bags in the back, there is no suitable prior art solution to this problem, and the use of two route men is not economically feasible.